Folding table leg construction



Jan. 26, 1943. v FlLoNowlcz FLDING TABLE LEG CONSTRUCTIN Filed sgpt. 16, 1940 INVENTOR TOR F/L ONO w/cz v A ORNEY.

Patented Jan. 26, 1943 UNITED STATEi FOLDING TABLE LEG CONSTRUCTION Victor Fiionowicz, Detroit, Mich.

Application September 16, 1940, Serial No. 356,933

10 Ciaims.

This invention primarly relates to a novel construction of folding card table legs but may be readily adapted to other uses of folding legs and pivoted members generally. The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple means whereby a folding leg will he retained in either its opened or closed position and in this connection to eliminate various forms of latches which have been formerly employed for this purpose. Among the objections to the use of such latches are, first, the fact that they are generally manually operated so that the folding leg cannot be moved from one position to another without simultaneously disengaging the latch, and second, that the use of a latching mechanism necessarily requires additional parts which add to the cost of the unit and are a potential source of trouble during the use of the unit.

Another object of this invention is to provide a folding leg which is rigidly mounted, and which upon being unfolded or brought to upright position will there be held with a form of clamping action imparting additional rigidity.

A further object is to construct a folding leg and its support as a unit which will form a corner piece of the table with which such leg is used.

It is further desired that these and other objects which will appear from a study of the more detailed description following, and by reference to the drawing forming a part hereof, will be accomplished and embodied in a structure which may be fabricated at very low cost and in which the number of parts employed is reduced to the barest minimum.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. l is a plan view of the bottom of a section of a table showing the corner unit of the present invention as assembled in relation to the adjacent structure;

Fig. 2 is a section along the line 2-2 of Fig. l, showing details of the manner in which the leg is mounted, and

Fig, 3 is a View taken along the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 showing additional features of the construction. Y

The corner piece II, in which a leg i?, is mounted, is secured to a top I3-and side rails It of the table, this corner piece being constructed of a single stamping of sheet metal formed with a recessed section I5 on its upper surface in which the top I3 of the table rests, and with a bottom section I6 through which the leg I2 pro-- trudes. A U-shaped member Il, which acts as a housing for the leg I2, is spot welded or otherwise secured to this bottom section I5 and also to the recessed top section I5, so that it thereby adds great rigidity to the corner unit as a whole. The leg l2, which in the embodiment of the invention illustrated is also of sheet metal construction, is mounted within this housing I1 upon a pivot pin I8. That portion of the leg I2 which is thus mounted within the housing I'I is formed with a channel-type of cross section, the sides Iii of which taper slightly outwardly from their transverse connecting section 20, thereby because of the resilient properties afforded by the projecting sheet metal sides I9, exerting a certain pressure against the adjacent sides 2l of the housing I?, which pressure materially adds to the rigidity of the mounting. Additional rigidity is given by the manner in which the leg is retained in open or unfolded position, this consisting of inter-engaging pairs of notches Z2 and 22d which are stamped in the sides 2| of the housing Il and correspondingly in the sides I9 of the channel section of the leg I2.

A spring 23 is mounted under compression within the channel section cf the leg between these notches formed on the sides I9 thereof, so as to force these notches into intimate engagement with the corresponding notches on the sides 2l of the housing Il. This spring 23 will also contribute to the rigidity with which the leg is held in place by causing all port-ions of the adjacent surfaces IQ of the leg and 2l of the housing to be in intimate contact.

It has been found preferable to construct one pair of these notches 22 with their sides 24 positioned radially with reference to the axis of the pivot pin I8 in order that when the leg is rotated to unfolded position al1 portions of the notches will simultaneously come into engagement. The other pair of notches 22a are similar in shape to those just described but with the difference that they are rotated from the aforementioned radial position of the first pair of notches s0 that their engagement, which takes place as the leg I2 is brought to unfolded position, will not occur simultaneously with that of the first mentioned pair of notches 222. Therefore, a slight twisting of the channel section of the leg I2 will result, causing a binding eect on the pivot pin it, which aids in effecting a secure and rigid mounting of the leg in its unfolded position.

A single pair of notches 25 are provided so that the leg might be retained to a limited extent in its folded or closed position.

lt is to be noted that thr` lat-ching effect produced by the engagement of these notches is entirely automatic in operation, so that when it is desired to fold or unfold the leg it is only necessary to apply suflicient force to overcome the latching or retaining effect produced by the notches. In this respect it can be seen that the distance between the axis of the pivot pin I8 and the location of the notches 22 in relation to the distance from such axis to the opposite end of the leg, is such that a very high leverage is obtained to overcome this latching effect. It is to be noted that the degree of leverage obtained is greater when the pivot pin I8 is located intermediate the position of the notches 22 and 22a and the foot or free end of the leg than would be the case were the positions of the pivot pin and notches transposed from the positions shown in the drawing.

An important feature of constructing the corner piece II as a unit in the form illustrated is that the junction of the side rails I4, 'which ordinarily would come at the very corner of the table,v is eliminated. When a folding leg is mounted at such a joint, as was the former practice, it was usually found that unless the construction was high in quality of workmanship and materials, the repeated folding and unfolding of the leg and the strains produced thereby would cause a weakening or loosening of the corner joint and thereby make the table as a whole Very unstable. This difficulty is largely eliminated by the unitary corner construction and the leg mounting of this invention. Any strains occasioned by the folding or unfolding of the leg will be evenly distributed through both the side rails I4 and to a certain extent through the top I3, and will not be concentrated at a single joint.

While a preferred form of the invention is illustrated and described herein, it is to be under- VVstood that certain modifications and adaptations may be made without departing from the spirit thereof as delned in the following claims.

I claim:

l. In a construction employing a pivoted member having one or more xed positions, a mounting for said member comprising a pair of stationary members having their adjacent surfaces parallel to the direction of movement of said pivoted member, a portion of said pivoted member' being positioned between said adjacent surfaces of said stationary members, said portion of said pivoted member being of resilient construction, said pivoted member and said stationary members being so dimensioned as to bring their respective adjacent surfaces in contacting relationship, a pivotal axis extending transversely between said stationary members, said pivoted member rotating about said pivotal axis and means to retain said pivoted member in fixed position comprising mutually engaging notches formed in the adjacent surfaces of said pivoted member and said stationary members and ren silient means positioned within said resilient portion of said pivoted member normally tending to urge said notches into engagement.

2. In a construction employing a pivoted member having one or more fixed positions, a mountingY for said member comprising a pair of stationary members having their adjacent surfaces parallel to the direction of movement of said pivoted member, a portion of said pivoted member being positioned between said adjacent surfaces of said stationary members, said pivoted member and said stationary members being so dimensioned as to bring their respective adjacent surfaces in contacting relationship, a pivotal axis extending transversely between said stationary members, said pivoted member rotating about said pivotal axis and means to retain said pivoted member in xed position comprising pairs of mutually engaging notches formed in the adjacent surfaces of said pivoted member and said stationary members for each fixed position of said pivoted member, the sides of one pair of said notches being radially related to said pivotal axis, the sides of the opposite pair of notches being non-radially related to said pivotal axis, and resilient means normally tending to urge said notches into engagement.

3. In a con-struction employing a pivoted member having one or more xed positions, a mounting for said member comprising a pair of stationary members having their adjacent surfaces parallel to the direction of movement of said pivoted member, a portion of said pivoted member being positioned between said adjacent surfaces of said stationary members, said pivoted member and said stationary members being so dimensioned as to bring their respective adjacent surfaces in contacting relationship, said portion of said pivoted member being of resilient construction, a pivotal axis extending transversely between said stationary members, said pivoted member rotating about said pivotal axis and means to retain said pivoted member in fixed position comprising pairs of mutually engaging notches formed in the adjacent; surfaces of said pivoted member and said stationary members for each fixed position of said pivoted member, the sides of one pair of said notches being radially related to said pivotal axis, the sides of the opposite pair of notches being non-radially related to said pivotal axis, and resilient means normally tending to urge said notches into engagement. Y

4. In a construction employing a pivoted member having one or more fixed positions, a mounting for said member comprising a pair of stationary members having their adjacent surfaces parallel to the direction of movement of said pivoted member, a portion of said pivoted mema ber being positioned between said adjacent sur# faces of said stationary members, said pivoted member and, said stationary members being so dimensicned as to bring their respective adjacent surfaces in contacting relationship, said portion of said pivoted member being of resilient construction, a pivotal axis extending transversely between said stationary members, said pivoted member rotating about said pivotal axis and means to retain said pivoted member in fixed position comprising pairs of mutually engaging notches formed in the adjacent surfaces of said pivoted member and said stationary members for each fixed position of said pivoted member, the sides of one pair of said notches being radially related to said pivotal axis, the sides of the opposite pair of notches being non-radially related to said pivotal axis, and resilient means interposed between the opposite notches of said pivoted member so as' to normally urge said notches into engagement with the notches in the adjacent surfaces of said stationary members.

5. In a construction employing a pivoted member having one or more fixed positions, a mounting for said member comprising a pair of stationary members having their outer edges parallel to the direction of movement of said pivoted member, the adjacent surfaces of said stationary members being slightly converging, a portion of said pivoted member being positioned and said stationary members for each xed position of said pivoted member, the sides of one pair of said notches being radially related to said pivotal axis, the sides of the opposite pair of notches being non-radially related to said pivotal axis, and resilient means interposed between the opposite notches of said pivoted member so as to normally urge said notches into engagement with the notches in the adjacent surfaces of said stationary members.

6. A corner construction for tables employing folding legs comprising a. unitary corner piece, a U-shaped housing attached to said corner piece, a folding leg mounted in said U-shaped housing upon a pivotal axis extending transversely of said U-shaped housing, that portion of said leg within said U-shaped housing being of resilient construction, said leg being in intimate contact with both sides of said U-shaped housing and means to retain said leg in unfolded position comprising notches formed in the sides of said U-shaped housing, complementary notches formed in the surface of said leg adapted to engage said first notches when said leg is rotated to unfolded position, and resilient means normally tending to urge said notches into engagement.

'7. A corner construction for tables employing folding legs comprising a unitary corner piece, a

U-shaped housing attached to said corner piece, a folding leg mounted in said U-shaped housing upon a pivotal axis extending transversely of said U-shaped housing, said leg being in intimate contact with both sides of said U-shaped housing and means to retain said leg in unfolded position comprising pairs of notches formed in the sides of said U-shaped housing and said leg respectively, the sides of one of said pairs of notches being in radial relation to said pivotal axis, the sides of the other of said pairs of notches being in non-radial relation to said pivotal axis and resilient means normally tending to urge said notches into engagement.

8. A corner construction for tables employing folding legs comprising a unitary corner piece, a U-shaped housing attached to said corner piece, a folding leg mounted in said U-shaped housing upon a pivotal axis extending transversely of said `U-shaped housing, said leg being in intimate contact with both sides of said U-shaped housing and means to retain said leg in unfolded position comprising pairs of notches formed in the sides of said U-shaped housing and said leg respectively, the sides of one of said pairs of notches being in radial relation to said pivotal axis, the sides of the other of said pairs of notches being in non-radial relation to said pivotal axis, a third pair of notches formed in the sides of said U-shaped housing and said leg respectively, said third pair of notches being placed 90 from the position of the aforementioned notches relative to said pivotal axis so as to tend to retain said leg in folded position and resilient means normally tending to urge said notches into engagement.

9. A corner construction for tables employing folding legs comprising a unitary corner piece, said corner piece being secured to side rails of said table at points removed from the rightangle junction which would be formed by said side rails if extended, a U-shaped housing attached to said corner piece, a folding leg mounted in said U-shaped housing upon a pivotal axis extending transversely of said U-shaped housing, said leg being in intimate contact with both sides of said U-shaped housing and means to retain said leg in unfolded position comprising pairs of notches formed in the sides of said U- shaped housing and said leg respectively, the sides of one of said pairs of notches being in radial relation to said pivotal axis, the sides of the other of said pairs of notches being in nonradial relation to said pivotal axis, a third pair of notches formed in the sides of said U-shaped housing and said leg respectively, said third pair of notches being placed 90 from the position of the aforementioned notches relative to said pivotal axis so as to tend to retain said leg in folded position and resilient means normally tending to urge said notches into engagement.

10. A corner construction for tables employing folding legs comprising a unitary corner piece, said corner piece being secured to side rails of said table at points removed from the right-angle junction which would be formed by said side rails if extended, the upper surface of said corner piece and said side rails being recessed to accommodate a table top, a U-shaped housing attached to said corner piece, a folding leg mounted in said U-shaped housing upon a pivotal axis extending transversely of said U-shaped housing, said leg being in intimate contact with both sides of said U-shaped housing and means to retain said leg in unfolded position comprising pairs of notches formed in the sides of said U-shaped housing and said leg respectively, the sides of one of said pairs of notches being in radial relation to said pivotal axis, the sides of the other of said pairs of notches being in non radial relation to said pivotal axis, a third pair of notches formed in the sides of said U-shaped housing and said leg respectively, said third pair of notches being placed substantially 90 from the position of the aforementioned notches relative to said pivotal axis so as to tend to retain said leg in folded position and resilient means normally urging said notches into engagement.

VICTOR FILONOWICZ. 

